[Leica] Your chance to own a Russian Leica M240

[Douglas Barry]

Having had a Zenit E many moons ago, and thinking when I moved upwards 
to a Pentax Spotmatic that the Zenit should really have been named the 
Nadir, I wonder for what reasons Leica is tieing itself to such an 
unremarkable marque? After all, according to Robert Service's new book 
Kremlin Winter: Russia and the Second Coming of Vladimir Putin, the 
country is quite a busted flush with a declining population riddled with 
alcoholism. As a result, male life expectancy is a decade lower than in 
the UK and its economy is about the size of the Netherlands. Mind you, 
it seems to be top of the class when it come to mischievous hacking, and 
Kompromat.

It would be interesting to find what motivated the tie-up considering 
Russia has little manufacturing industry and a prominent recent history 
of cronyism and kleptocracy. The mind boggles at what might have gone on 
in the background. Even though I have a nice Russian Jupiter-9 85mm F2 
made in 1977, I couldn't see myself buying the Zenit-M for my moral 
health. Thanks, but no thanks.

Douglas




On 17/12/2019 15:54, Frank Filippone via LUG wrote:
> The Zenit-M camera is made by Leica with some simple design cues by Zenit.
> It's essentially a Leica M240 without the 6-bit lens code reader and with
> Zenit software. The only lens profiles that are in the camera are only for
> the three Zenit made lenses: 35/1.0, 50/1.0 and 21/2.8. If you use any other
> Leica M-mount lens, the camera will not do automatic corrections.
>
> The only lens listed for sale, and only as a kit with the camera, is the
> 50/1.0.
>
> Notice the wording... MADE BY LEICA........
>
> No one AFAIK is shipping a 35 F1.0 lens....
>
> Frank Filippone
>
> Red735i at verizon.net
>
> I don't doubt that the Russians can make a similar camera
> technologically, whether the lens is as good may be a different
> question. However if they are simply rebadging someone else's lenses it
> might not be bad.
>
> Peter
>
>
>
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